Referencing and Reference Management

With an introduction to Zotero

Charles C. Lanfear

Referencing

Plagiarism

 

Plagiarism occurs when ‘people draw on or directly replicate someone else’s work and, whether intentionally or not, pass that work off as their own’. This is both poor scholarship and a breach of academic integrity. You are expected to submit original work for your assessments and to acknowledge all sources upon which you have used.

MPhil Handbook, p.10

 

Avoiding plagiarism is the low bar for referencing

When and how to cite

 

Use citations for:

  • Factual claims
  • Invoking a literature
  • Highlighting a work
  • Extended discussions
  • All quotes

Provide pages for:

  • All quotes
  • Obscure or underappreciated points

Factual claim

 

 

Factual or empirical claims demand references

Invoking a literature

 




For broad claims and deferring to deep or classic literatures

Highlighting a work

 


Use when a work provides a key argument

Extended discussion

Reserve for work that you are directly responding to or which provides support for multiple key points

Page numbers

 



Required for quotes but important for obscure or underappreciated points—particularly in books

Where the citation goes

 

Supporting different claims:

Supporting the same claim:

The location of your citations implies the type of support they provide

Styles

  • For assessed work, use any common format, but…
    • Footnote citations count as words
    • Numbered references are harder for markers
    • I recommend APA:
      • Citation: (Lanfear, Kirk, and Sampson 2024)
      • Reference: Lanfear, C. C., Kirk, D. S., & Sampson, R. J. (2024). Dual pathways of concealed gun carrying and use from adolescence to adulthood over a 25-year era of change. Science Advances, 10(49), eadp8915. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adp8915
  • Outside this program, it is largely determined by publisher
    • Swapping journal means swapping styles
    • Footnote references are elegant
    • Endnote references are awful

Regardless of what you use, don’t do them manually

Questions?

Zotero

Getting started

Demo

 

 

 

Zotero Desktop

Many useful features:

  • Store metadata on any kind of reference
  • Create notes nested within entries
  • Tag references for sorting
  • Account features:
    • Sync library and notes across computers1
    • Free back up!
    • Access through the Zotero website

Zotero Connector

Easily add items to Zotero from your browser:

  • Repositories, e.g., JSTOR
  • Google Scholar
  • Journal and publisher websites
  • DOIs and ISBNs
  • Directly from some PDFs
  • News sites

Style management

  • Visit the Zotero Style Repository
    • Major styles: Chicago, MLA, APA, etc.
    • Discipline styles: ASA, AMA, etc.
    • Journal-specific styles: Springer, Science, etc.
  • Set style in your word processor document preferences or in Quarto using .csl files
    • Updates all in-text citations
    • And the bibliography!

Word processor integration

  • Word & LibreOffice:
  • Google Docs:
    • Part of Zotero Connector!
  • RStudio:
    • Built-in!
    • Insert references in Quarto visual editor
  • Apple doesn’t allow plugins in Pages!
    • Bad Apple!

In-text modifications

You can make a lot of modifications within the word processor:

  • Multiple items in single citation
  • Editing existing citations
  • Hiding authors
  • Adding page numbers, chapters, tables, figures
  • Adding text within the parentheses (e.g., “see also”)
  • “Refresh” to update modifications you make in the desktop app

Other features

Wrap-up

  • CRM tomorrow
  • Reading for next week:
    • Sword, H. (2011) Stylish Academic Writing, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
      • Read at least chapters 1, 3, 5 for Monday
      • Read 9, 10 and 12 when you can